This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
It would be desirable to provide an improved apparatus for diverting rainwater from the downspout of a rain gutter system for a building. However, the problems posed by this type of arrangement are complex because the known diverters tend to capture debris (e.g. leaves, dirt, ice, insects, etc.) that often results in clogging of the downspout and unreliable delivery of rainwater to an intended collection device. For example, the known diverters tend to have structure that reduces the effective flow area through the downspout, or do not redirect the rainwater back through the downspout when the containment device is full, or that are not easy to clean, or that do not filter the rainwater being diverted to the collection device, or that include moving parts that reduce the reliability of the diverter.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus for diverting rainwater from a downspout of a rain gutter system on a building (or other appropriate structure) that does not reduce the effective flow area through the downspout, and that redirects the rainwater back through the downspout when the collection device is full, and that is easy to clean, and that filters the rainwater being diverted to the collection device, and that does not require moving parts for its operation.